Dr. Cynthia J. Arnson is director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Her most recent work has focused on democratic governance, conflict resolution, citizen security and organized crime, international relations, and U.S. policy in the Western hemisphere. Arnson is a member of the editorial advisory board of Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica, the Spanish-language edition of the distinguished journal Foreign Affairs. She is a member of the advisory boards of Human Rights Watch/Americas and the Social Science Research Council’s Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum. She served as associate director of the Americas division from 1990-1994, covering Central America and Colombia. In the early 1980s, as a consultant to Americas Watch, Arnson wrote many of the organization’s first reports on human rights conditions in El Salvador.

Arnson is the editor of In the Wake of War: Democratization and Internal Armed Conflict (Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Stanford University Press, 2012); and co-editor, with Carlos de la Torre, of Latin American Populism in the 21st Century (Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). She is editor of Comparative Peace Processes in Latin America (Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Stanford University Press, 1999), co-editor (with I. William Zartman) of Rethinking the Economics of War: The Intersection of Need, Creed, and Greed (Woodrow Wilson Center Press and The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005), and author of Crossroads: Congress, the President, and Central America, 1976-1993 (2d ed., Penn State Press, 1993). Since joining the Wilson Center’s Latin American Program in 1994, she has written or edited scores of Woodrow Wilson Center publications on Colombia and the Andean region, Central America, Argentina, Venezuela, China-Latin American relations, citizen security and organized crime, energy, human rights, and U.S. policy in the Western hemisphere.

Arnson served as an assistant professor of international relations at American University's School of International Service, 1989-1991. As a foreign policy aide in the House of Representatives during the Carter and Reagan administrations, she participated in the national debates over U.S. policy and human rights in the Southern Cone and in Central America. Arnson graduated magna cum laude from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and has an M.A. and Ph.D. in International Relations from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Education

Ph.D., International Relations, and M.A., Latin American Studies, The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies; B.A., Government, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

Subjects

Honors

American Fellow, American Association of University of Women Educational Foundation

Experience

Frequent writer and lecturer on Colombia and U.S. policy in Latin America; professor, American University; legislative assistant, U.S. House of Representatives; Associate Director, Human Rights Watch/Americas

Related Content for this Expert

Several Latin American governments, which a few years ago joined in showy displays of anti-U.S. solidarity, are now distancing themselves from the Ahmadinejad regime, as tensions rise over Iran’s controversial nuclear policies and new administrations take over in key capitals, The Wilson Center’s Latin America Program director said Thursday. Briefing senators on Iran’s activities in the region, Cindy Arnson added that “vigilance” still remains necessary, to guard against any state or nonstate threat in the region. “Vigilance is essential, as is evidence-based consideration of the issues,” she told the subcommittee’s hearing on Iranian activities in Latin America. more

Otto Perez Molina will likely propose drug legalization at the next summit of regional leaders. Dr. Cynthia Arnson, Director of the Latin American Program, discusses how the initiative comes in response to the frustration over the current drug policy that has defined the region over the past few decades. She argues that even though it may not be implemented, it is a message that is icreasingly becoming part of the discussion in the region. [Article is in Spanish] more

"Lopez was running far behind in the polls, and the Supreme Court's defiance of the decision by the Inter-American Court left a big cloud of uncertainty over Lopez's future, even if he were to come out ahead," said Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. "Capriles has been the front-runner for some time, so the endorsement will continue to bolster his campaign." more

"FARC has been under unrelenting military pressure for over a decade," said Cynthia Arnson, the director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. "But FARC is still an enormously wealthy insurgent organization because of revenues from the drug trade. It still retains a capacity to commit acts of violence and harm people." more

Cynthia J. Arnson, director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, said Salvadoran expatriates play a critical role by sending remittances home, but that is not enough. El Salvador needs people to help build the economy and provide education and job opportunities to keep people out of gangs, she said. “As important as the remittances are to subsidize consumption, [it] is not the same as creating productive capacity, and there is a huge role for the Salvadoran community living in the United States and other countries to contribute to their homeland by creating economic opportunity,” Arnson said. “It is a vicious cycle and, unless people who are in a position to provide capital for the economic growth and job creation [also provide help], it is very hard to see how the country will ever break this cycle.” more

Many in the U.S. are taking a wait-and-see approach to Perez given his military background. President Barack Obama took two weeks to congratulate Perez on his November election victory, something some read as a chilly sign. "They want to sort of say, look, we're prepared to cooperate, but it depends on who is in the government, what priorities they have," said Cynthia Arnson, director of the Latin America program at the Wilson Center in Washington. "It doesn't come with a free ride." more

The Red Centroamericana de Pensamientos e Incidencia discussed their recently published paper, “Following the Money Trail in Central America: Money Laundering and Implications for Regional Security.” more

Latin American program director Cynthia J. Arnson is quoted in this article about the U.S. government's consideration of sanctions for individuals within the Venezuelan government. This article is in Spanish.

In this interview on NTN24's La Tarde, Latin American Program Director Cynthia J. Arnson explains the key to success in the dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition. This video is in Spanish.

Pages

This publication focuses on the rapidly expanding relations between Asian and Latin American countries, with chapters focusing on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and the region at large.

Leading Latin American, U.S., and European authors explore the institutional and socioeconomic contexts that give rise to populism and show how disputes over its meaning are closely intertwined with debates over the meaning of democracy.

The Obama administration will need to establish clear priorities for U.S.–Latin American relations that advance U.S. interests in remarkably changed circumstances. No single approach to the region can guide U.S. policy, nor can policy be successful if it does not recognize the changes in the region over the past decade that are reflected in the hemisphere’s economic and political vitality.

In this report, we first survey the causes for the rise of violent crime in Mexico, and the Northern Triangle of Central America. We then look at the US policy response to date. We conclude by offering a few suggestions on how the US policy response could be significantly improved in the short and medium term to respond better to the underlying challenges that the countries of the region are facing, problems in which our own country is deeply implicated.

In the Wake of War assesses the consequences of civil war for democratization in Latin America, focusing on questions of state capacity. Contributors focus on seven countries—Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru—where state weakness fostered conflict and the task of state reconstruction presents multiple challenges.

This publication attempts to create a better understanding of the nature, origins, and evolution of organized crime in Central America by examining the dynamics of organized crime in the three countries of the so-called Northern Triangle as well as the broader regional context that links these case studies.

In November 2007, experts on energy convened to discuss the role of energy resources as an instrument of cooperation or conflict in South America. The report explores the effects of the political and economic policy decisions of important energy producers on other energy-dependent, Latin American states.

Cynthia J. Arnson is director of the Latin American Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Robert S. Litwak is Vice President for Programs and Director of International Security Studies at the Wilson Center